Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100

The instant the golden particles clung to Margo, the surrounding Nulls—still mid-charge at Max—suddenly froze for a split-second, their many eyes swiveling away from Max’s position as they all simultaneously locked onto the source of the sacred glow. Their nostrils flared, tongues flicking out hungrily as they caught the potent scent of divine bloodline energy mingled with human’s aura.

A low, collective growl rippled through the horde, building into a rising crescendo of shrieks and bellows as every Null within range went berserk, driven mad by the allure of the Heavenly Luminance energy now radiating from Margo’s back like an invisible beacon.

And then, as one, the entire stampede shifted.

The Nulls pivoted away from Max in a monstrous tide, claws tearing great furrows in the ground as they redirected their lethal momentum. They barrelled across the battlefield toward Margo, jaws agape and eyes blazing with rabid hunger, their roars now aimed at the man who had so recently tried to turn them into Max’s assassins.

Margo, oblivious at first, whirled around with triumph still glimmering in his eyes—only for his smirk to shatter as he saw the monstrous horde bearing down on him. His face drained of color, eyes widening in sheer, frozen horror as dozens of Level 5 and Level 6 Nulls thundered straight for him, claws outstretched and fangs gnashing for his blood.

Max watched the scene unfold, his sword lowering ever so slightly as a faint, sardonic smile touched his lips.

And as Margo screamed and staggered backward, slashing wildly to defend himself against the raging tide of monsters he’d tried to weaponize, Max turned his attention back to the Nulls before him, lifting his sword once more, ready to resume his slaughter.

”AGGGHH! Help me!” Margo’s scream tore across the battlefield, high and panicked, his voice raw as he swung his iron sword wildly, sweat and blood mingling on his face while monstrous shadows crashed against him from every side.

His strikes were frantic rather than precise, fueled by pure desperation as a torrent of snarling Nulls clawed and bit at his defenses, their many eyes glittering with predatory hunger as they lunged for his flesh.

Even his considerable strength at 5th level Champion Rank offered him little solace against the sheer number of monstrous bodies piling in around him, claws scraping across his defenses and tearing bloody gouges into his robes.

His once-arrogant face was twisted into a mask of terror, his eyes rolling wildly as he staggered back, breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps.

”Young Master Margo!” came the cries of his team, who surged forward in a desperate effort to save him, blades and spears flashing as they tried to carve a path through the press of writhing black bodies.

But it was painfully obvious, even as they hacked and thrust with all their might, that they were hopelessly outmatched by the ferocity and numbers of the high-level Nulls that had been lured toward Margo. Each swing of their weapons felled one or two monsters, but for every creature they slew, another three lunged forward, jaws snapping and claws flashing as they overwhelmed the small group.

Blood sprayed in arcs, screams rose and fell like waves, and for an instant, it seemed inevitable that Margo and his team would be swallowed whole by the tide.

”Senior Brother Margo...” Alice murmured, her brow furrowing in concern as she turned, phoenix flames swirling restlessly around her slender figure. Just as she opened her mouth to urge Max to intervene, the sky above them split open with a blinding flash of white-gold brilliance.

Without warning, a sword slash descended from above, a single, colossal arc of light so radiant it seemed to carve a seam in the crimson clouds. The energy hummed with a piercing, high-pitched note, a divine resonance that drowned out even the roaring of the Nulls for the briefest instant.

SHHHHRRRAAAA!

In one sweeping stroke, the slash cut through the air, crashing down upon the swarm around Margo with cataclysmic force. The Nulls caught beneath it didn’t merely fall—they evaporated, their monstrous bodies disintegrating into black motes and ash under the searing brilliance of the attack.

Screeches of agony filled the air for a heartbeat, then faded into stunned silence as the creatures were wiped from existence, leaving the ground around Margo scorched and smoking, littered only with faintly glowing embers drifting like fireflies through the blood-scented haze.

It was an elder of the Hunter Association who stood at the edge of the newly cleared space, sword still outstretched, his robe billowing as residual sparks of power danced along the blade. His eyes were sharp and commanding as he surveyed the aftermath, his presence radiating a suffocating authority that made even the surrounding cultivators instinctively bow their heads.

He was the elder responsible for the 1st circle.

Ordinarily, the elders of the Hunter Association would never have intervened in such a situation. Death was an accepted—and expected—part of the battlefield, and it was well-known that twenty percent of those who came to temper themselves on the battlefield would never return.

The elders, burdened with safeguarding the greater balance of the Middle Domain, could not afford to risk their strength for every struggling genius.

But Margo’s case was starkly different. From high above, the elders had noticed how strangely he had become besieged by hundreds of high-level Nulls—far more than should have converged on a single individual.

Whether out of suspicion, duty, or the simple impossibility of ignoring such an anomaly, they had been compelled to act. And so, with one decisive stroke, the elder had intervened, slicing away the immediate threat and saving Margo’s life, even as the air still shimmered with the fading echoes of his mighty sword strike.

Margo lay panting amid the scorched ground, bloodied and shaking, staring up at the elder with wide, dazed eyes, his chest heaving as he tried to process how close he had come to being torn apart.

Meanwhile, whispers rippled through the nearby experts, some marveling at the elder’s power, others casting furtive glances toward Margo, suspicion brewing behind their eyes about how he had managed to attract so many Nulls in the first place.